So after a full day in the studio, where I re-recorded a song called "Mainstream" for the Non-Prophets album, I made a pitstop at the pizza shop on my way home. Phone call...Mike Cirelli.

"Hey Frank...we're going down to the Boston Cantab for Jared's feature. Come meet us at the house."

I considered skipping out on this event because my body and brain are both equally fried due to the European tour, holiday season, moving out of my apt, recording "HOPE", rehearsing for the tour, preparing to release Reverse Discourse and set up shop at this site. But the company was strong...and even though the man is old the night was young. So I trooped.

Upon entering the Cantab, Mike and I noticed that there were two slots open in the slam list. He wrote both of our names down.
The open mic at the Cantab was all of two hours long. That is NOT cool. Listening to open mic poets for 2 hours in one evening is the kind of dues I am not interested in paying anymore. Of course there were some shining moments, such as Craig Nelson's poem about working the graveyard shift: "My job is to stay conscious. I am the guy who calls another guy if ANYTHING happens. I am AWESOME at computer solitaire."

There was a short break directly after the slam and then my roomate and long time friend, Jared Paul, took to the stage with props in one hand and the crowd in the other. The Manic Expressive Agenda was in full effect, and the energy levels rose considerably. Shadowboxing, beatboxing, soapboxing.

A would-be heckler who stood by the door was successfully deterred by Jared subtely warning him, "You're not going to be the heckler. You don't want to be that guy."

Very entertanining feature. Everyone in the house was pleased. It ended around 11 o'clock, which is about when we all wanted to leave. We considered skipping out on the slam. But we stayed. and I won. yay. it was cool. I slammed with "Cure" for the first time and it got me the best score of the night.

We got home around 2:30 AM.

It was the best night I have had in a long time. And Meeting St Cafe wasn't even involved.

love,
frank

*yeah yea...I know it's in Cambridge.

Last edited by Sage Francis on Thu Jan 09, 2003 1:03 pm; edited 1 time in total

Thu Jan 09, 2003 12:24 pm

eclipse31982

Joined: 20 Oct 2002
Posts: 24

sorry i missed it

i had that 24 hour bug, you know the one when you lose control of all your bodily functions at the same time,,, it was pretty dope but i would have rather gone to Boston. anyway glad to hear you guys held it down, peaceeee

eclipse

Thu Jan 09, 2003 12:42 pm

argot

Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 958
Location: rhode island

hooorah

yay for the whole night. sorry i wasnt there.... i was on ym way back from maine... crazy shit

the phantom eclipse is posting... (evil laughter) shut up

Congratulations

Thu Jan 09, 2003 3:42 pm

love6ness

Joined: 21 Oct 2002
Posts: 97

congrats, mr. francis.

is that the same mike cirelli from the Berzerkeley Slam CD? his poem "vinyl" is one of my favorites.

from a hiphop standpoint, i think Providence owns Boston too. There are the exceptions of Akro and others, but one can only stomcah so much of Eso and the likes exclaiming "build your vocab!!!", fuck that shit.

Peace

Sun Jan 12, 2003 10:57 pm

tobyne

Joined: 13 Dec 2002
Posts: 14
Location: Belgium

Sage,

I'm disappointed. Disappointed for not having been able to be there as well.
madness.